Florida family hopes to thank couple who found soldier's decades-old personal items

The DeLand Naval Air Station Museum helped reunite personal items – almost 80 years old – belonging to a soldier after someone found them at a garage sale.

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. - The DeLand Naval Air Station Museum helped reunite personal items – almost 80 years old – belonging to a soldier after someone found them at a garage sale.

Scott Storz is a volunteer at the museum. He said about a month ago a couple walked in with a folded flag, beret, family pictures, and letters.

A volunteer genealogist searched through records and uncovered the items belonged to a soldier who had served during World War II and was a prisoner of war.

The genealogist was able to find a granddaughter in St. Cloud, Florida. FOX 35 News talked with Emily Thacker over Zoom. She says her grandfather died four years before she was born.

"I’m really glad that I get to see some of this stuff that I only heard about or that were lost during the many moves that me and my mom went through," she said.

Storz hopes the couple who found the items at the yard sale come forward so she can thank them for helping to get them back to the family.